Anti Essays :: Free "Hedonism" Essay
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Submitted by perazdera on March 11, 2008
Hedonism derives from a Greek word hedone that means pleasure. This is philosophy of life and people who want to fell good. Hedonism is all about the pursuit of pleasures and avoidance of pain. Hedonistic philosophy claims that people are born with desire to pursue happiness and avoid pain.
Aristippus was first Greek philosopher that practiced hedonism he was for Greek colony of Cyrene today it is Libya. He lived and crated his thought from (430 B.C- 350 B.C)
Hedonism practiced by Aristippus reveal us three major Hedonistic principles in the culture. First principle is Socialization that works on the system of reward and punishment. Reward is equal to pleasure and punishment to the pain. Second principle is Religion and God the way we live will determine where are we will be heading in afterlife. Here heaven represents pleasure and hell represents pain. Third principle is entertainment; people always seek for pleasures all the time. It is in the human nature finding pleasure is benefiting to humans and failure to do so is just causing pain.
Conscious hedonism for Aristippus is intelligent reflection and careful selection based on practical wisdom. Practical wisdom defines being able to learn trough out watching.
All that people want is pleasure and meaning of life is pleasure therefore according to Aristippus people should follow their desires for pleasure. According to this hedonistic philosophy highest and strongest pleasures are physical. Pleasure of the moment is more valuable than pleasures that are going to occur in future. Subjectivism is the view that there is no objective standard of truth what one person knows according to this philosophy is based on his or her subjective view point. According to Aristippus there is difference in the intensity of pleasure that one can experience we should always search for highest possible pleasure, but we can’t lose self control. Skillful self-control is needed for hedonism to be...
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